Why bother with X (formerly Twitter)? Because you want exposure, visibility, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Simple. You want to build a following, be seen, and get found. X is great if you blog or create content regularly, and you want to drive people to your website. Yes, it’s very political, but it’s still a strong network for exposure. Politics and breaking news are not the only things going on there. Then you have Grok. I’ll explain.
Three Benefits of Carefully Building and Nurturing X as a Marketing Tool
- Visibility: You need to be seen so that potential customers and referral sources can know what you have to offer.
- Social Amplification: Extend your reach by posting content that followers will share and using hashtags strategically.
- Connection: Get better connected with your fans, customers, and supporters. Build relationships.
Posts on X come up in Google search! You can’t just set up an X account, automate some content, and expect it to work. Then, there’s Grok, their AI tool. It’s the future. Here’s what you need to know…
The Power of Grok on X
Grok is X’s built-in AI assistant, developed by xAI, designed to be witty, fast, and deeply integrated into the platform. Its strengths include:
- Real-time insights: Pulls directly from live X posts, trends, and conversations for up-to-the-minute answers.
- Humor + personality: Inspired by Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Grok responds with wit and a rebellious streak, making interactions engaging.
- Advanced reasoning: Uses multi-agent systems for complex problem-solving, from coding to policy analysis.
- Content creation: Summarizes long documents, drafts posts, brainstorms ideas, and even generates code.
- Voice & conversation: Supports natural, fluid dialogue for hands-free use.
- Developer tools: Offers coding guidance and debugging help.
- Future roadmap: Expanding into multimodal AI (image, video, and audio processing) for richer interactions.
In short, Grok isn’t just a chatbot—it’s positioned as the “truth-seeking AI companion” that makes X more than a social platform.
Free vs. Paid Accounts on X
Free Account
- Access to core X features: posting (limited to 280 characters), following, and direct messaging.
- Limited Grok usage (basic queries only).
- Ads are displayed throughout the platform.
- No advanced customization or monetization options.
Paid Subscription Tiers (X Premium)
X offers three subscription levels under X Premium, plus an advanced Grok add-on:
| Tier | Price (approx. watch for specials) | Key Features |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $3/month or $32/year | • Edit posts (within 1 hour) • Longer posts (up to 25,000 characters) • Longer video uploads (up to 3 hours / 8GB) • Text formatting (bold/italics) • Bookmark folders • Custom app icons • Small reply boost • Higher Grok usage limits |
| Premium | $8/month or $84/year | • All Basic features • Blue checkmark (verification, optional to display) • Reduced ads (~50% fewer) • Creator monetization (ad revenue share, subscriptions) • Media Studio access • X Pro dashboard access • Greater Grok usage • Higher reply prioritization • Ability to gift a Premium subscription |
| Premium+ | $40/month or $395/year | • All Premium features • No ads anywhere on X • Write and publish long-form Articles • Radar (advanced trend + keyword tracking) • Highest reply prioritization • Even greater Grok usage & special tools |
| SuperGrok (add-on) | $30/month or $300/year | • Unlocks Grok Heavy with multi-agent reasoning • DeepSearch mode for complex queries • Image generation (future multimodal features) • Designed for power users, analysts, and developers |
Key Takeaways:
- Free users get a taste of Grok and the basic X experience.
- Basic is for casual power users who want editing, longer posts, and light Grok use.
- Premium is for creators and professionals who want monetization, verification, and fewer ads.
- Premium+ is for heavy users who want a clean, ad-free experience with advanced publishing tools.
- SuperGrok is the AI enthusiast’s tier—unlocking Grok’s full potential.
Should You Pay or Stay Free?
Well, it depends on what you want to accomplish, who you want to reach, your industry, and your competition. It will be best for you to book a free 15-minute Zoom Strategy Session to discuss your options.
Here are some tips to grow your following on X…
- Clearly define your target market(s). You’re going to be searching for your target on X search, but you need to identify who you’re looking for. Otherwise, you’ll waste time. Do a little research on them, too. Grok can help!
- Brand your X account like an extension of your website. You have less than 7 seconds to catch someone’s attention. In those few seconds, they should know exactly what you do and what you have to offer. Upload either your picture or your logo. It has to be 400 x 400 pixels. The banner is 1500 x 500 pixels. Create quality graphics in the correct dimensions. You can’t take a small graphic and stretch it to fit. It will look fuzzy. You also can’t upload a rectangular logo into the square. It will get cut off.
- Write a keyword-centric bio with hashtags. Think keywords. This is no place to be cute or funny. You have only 160 characters to describe what you do and what you have to offer. Make every word count and mean something. Make sure you add the link to your website and your location if applicable.
- Post. Share some content. Because X moves so fast and people log on at different times of the day, you can easily post 10-20 posts a day using a scheduler or automating content.
However, for every 15 posts…- 10 should be other people’s content. That means repost and add a quote with your opinion or insight.
- 4 are your original content or tips. Share, don’t sell. Post useful content. Answer people’s questions.
- 1, no more than 2, should be selling posts with calls-to-action. These promo posts should entice a potential customer to click on the link.
- Search for your target market using X’s search box and Grok. Try several keywords and phrases. If you’re local, add your location to the search. Take notice of their location, how many followers they have, and how many people they are following. You’re looking for people who are active and with a decent following (well over 100). Now, take into consideration how long they’ve been on X. They may be new, but they still are potential customers. How many posts? Read some of them. What are they posting about?
- Follow people. As soon as you follow someone, they are notified. They will then check out your profile and decide if they want to follow you back. Follow people or companies that are either…
- Potential customers: They should reflect the description you came up with in your target market research.
- Potential strategic partners: Connect with people in related industries who could serve as referral sources.
- Influencers: These are people with a lot of followers, and those followers are your potential target market. For instance, for a company that sold parenting classes, we followed and connected with Mom Bloggers. Some had thousands of followers!
- Content providers: These are people in your industry or related industries who post good, quality content that’s worthy to share with your followers and of interest to them. Don’t follow people that YOU are interested in. Keep business and personal separate.
- Use lists to classify users. Definitely make one for Influencers so you can easily follow them and share their content. Furthermore, if a list is public, other X users can subscribe to it, and anyone that you add to it will be notified. A private list is just that — private — for your eyes only.
- Monitor your competition. See what they’re posting and how often. You can do this discreetly by setting up a private list. They won’t know you’ve added them to it.
- Check what’s trending in the morning and then later in the day. See if there’s anything that you can use to spin your marketing message around to get more exposure.
- Use hashtags properly. Hashtag major keywords. Create your own. But don’t overdo it! Not every word needs to be hashtagged. When someone clicks on a hashtag, all tweets with that hashtag, as well as account bios, will come up.
- Have an X follow button on your website and blog to make it easy for people to follow you.
You Have to Post!
However, if you do set up an account on X, you MUST post regularly! If you don’t, then when someone clicks over from your website or discovers you, and they see that you have no tweets or you haven’t posted in over a month (or a year!), that is a bad mark on your online image. People won’t follow you if you’re not sharing content that interests them! It’s that simple. I recommend using Sendible (affiliate link) for scheduling and monitoring your social media. It’s a great time-saver!
If a lot of what I’m saying here seems like a foreign language to you, then check out Ultimate Online, Digital Marketing Glossary!
Now, this is just X. You can’t ignore the other networks. Each has its own culture and ways to build a following and platform. You need to familiarize yourself with how each social media network works so you can leverage its power effectively. The best way to do that is just to set up an account and follow people. This is called “social listening”. A tool like Sendible (affiliate link) can help you do that.
If you are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start, schedule a free 15-minute Zoom strategy session, and we can brainstorm!
